"sTptimbeS™ ' }    Recent  Literature  Relating  to  Pharmacy.  449 
ness  concern  is  extensively  advertising  a  substance  called  "  mineral- 
ine,"  which  is  asserted  to  make  the  flour  "  whiter  and  nicer,"  and 
not  to  injure  it  in  any  way,  and  to  be  not  at  all  injurious  to  health. 
It  is  supplied  in  various  grades,  from  $8  to  $20  per  ton,  and  is 
asserted  to  net  the  dealer  from  $400  to  $i,6oo  per  car-load.  Upon 
examination,  mineraline  is  found  to  be  ground  soap-stone,  a  sub- 
stance absolutely  valueless  as  food,  and  whose  use  may  be  quite 
prejudicial  to  health. — Phila.  Med.  Jour.,  July  23,  1898. 
THE  OLEANDER  AS  A  DRUG. 
In  the  Indian  Medical  Record  for  May  1st,  Assistant  Surgeon,  H. 
D.  Pant,  of  Gonda,  reports  a  case  of  poisoning  with  the  leaves  of  the 
oleander  (Nerium  odorum).  A  Mussulman  coachman  pounded  seven 
leaves  of  the  plant  with  water  and  sugar  candy,  and  drank  the  sher- 
bet, having  been  advised  by  a  quack  to  take  it  as  a  diuretic  for 
gonorrhoea.  Severe  vomiting  set  in,  with  violent  retching  and 
slight  pain  in  the  stomach.  The  pulse  was  extremely  slow,  only 
thirty-six  to  the  minute,  and  feeble.  The  man  recovered  in  the 
course  of  a  day  or  two.  The  author  likens  the  action  of  oleander 
on  the  heart  to  that  of  digitalis,  and  suggests  the  medicinal  use  of  a 
mild  tincture  on  account  of  its  rapid  action  and  its  sustained  effect. 
NEW  HOT- WATER  BOTTLES. 
The  expensiveness  and  want  of  durability  in  the  ordinary  rubber 
bottles  and  ice-bags  which  have  become  so  essential  in  the  sick 
chamber,  has  long  been  a  perplexing  problem.  Experiments  with 
rice  paper,  covered  inside  and  out  with  a  coating  of  Japanese 
lacquer,  led  Professor  Jacobsohn  to  recommend  this  material  to 
the  Berlin  Society  of  Internal  Medicine  as  far  superior  to  rubber. 
In  strength,  flexibility,  imperviousness,  lightness  and  durability  it 
leaves  little  to  be  desired. — Med.  News,  July  9,  1 
RECENT  LITERATURE  RELATING  TO  PHARMACY. 
TESTS  FOR  ALBUMEN  AND  SUGAR  IN  URINE. 
The  following  two  tests — one  a  qualitative  test  for  albumen  in 
urine,  the  other  a  quantitative  test  for  sugar — were  lately  proposed 
by  Wm.  C.  Alpers,  in  a  paper  presented  at  the  last  meeting  of  the 
New  York  State  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
